Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia book review: Japan wants to rewrite its war crimes history. Author Gary Bass sets it straight

Already a subscriber?Now is a good time to be reassessing the Tokyo war crimes trial. Across East Asia and the world, the postwar global settlement is crumbling. This process has been very evident in Japan, though it has unfolded quietly there and attracted surprisingly little attention in the English-speaking world.

Today, feelings are very different. Japanese conservative politicians rail against what they label the “Tokyo trial view of history”, which they blame for instilling a darkly masochistic view of the nation’s history in the minds of the Japanese population. A central figure in the early part of Bass’ narrative is Henry Stimson, US secretary of war at the time of the defeat of Germany and Japan, who played a key part in creating the conceptual framework that underlay both the German Nuremberg war crimes trials and the Tokyo trial.

As Bass vividly shows, unease and disagreement about the moral and judicial basis of the international tribunal’s proceedings haunted the Tokyo trial. Its 11 judges represented the US, Canada, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, the Soviet Union, China, India and the Philippines, and each judge brought with him his own experiences, professional training and personal prejudices.

Ironically, he fell foul of the communist authorities because of his fierce criticism of Japanese war crimes at a time when China’s government was trying to improve the country’s political relationship with Japan. He was publicly condemned during the Cultural Revolution and died soon after – only to be elevated to the status of national hero under current Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)

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